I Am All About "The Mediterranean Diet."

I thought it was just a new "spin" on healthy eating.  After all, who doesn't know we're healthier when we eat, fruit, vegetables, fish and grains?  If nothing else it's another ringing endorsement for why we should nourish our bodies with food that is health giving and avoid the processed, fast food pattern that Americans invented!

Here's the definition of a Mediterranean diet: "a modern nutritional recommendation inspired by the traditional dietary patterns of poor coastal regions of southern Italy, Crete, and Greece in the 1960s." Wasn't it in the 60's that the golden arches started springing up everywhere in the U.S.?

So it was in the 90's that the Mediteranean diet gained widespread recognition after Dr. Walter Willett of Harvard University's School of Public Health presented the Mediterranean diet food pyramid.

The lowest food group (the one they indulge in the most) in the pyramid is full of breads, pastas, rice, cereal. And olive oil is right there in the middle.  Not to mention daily cheese and yogurt.  My personal recommendation would be to move the pieces of the Mediterranean pyramid puzzle around so that the breads and grains are closer to the top and fish and poultry move closer to the bottom. But what I really think is that there are many healthy options for eating. We need lean protein, healthy carbs and healthy fat. Pretty simple.  It gets complicated however when we substitute lean protein with McAnything, and get our carbs and fats from processed, packaged foods.  What is common in healthy diets is whole food, cooked in your kitchen or at least in a restaurant that is about healthy, local, sustainable, whole food.

A trip to a remote island in Greece to experience first hand their culture and diet would be my recommendation: